By Lauren Lochetto

There is no actual spring water on campus and that fact will remain unchanged until the year 2005 at the earliest.

For students who thought the Dasani sold in the Student Center was real spring water, recent publicity exposing it as bottled municipal water from London may have come as a shock.

Coca-Cola, the makers of Dasani, have stood by their product stating that the water undergoes “a highly sophisticated purification process,” that removes impurities such as “bacteria, viruses, salts, minerals, sugars, proteins and toxin particles.”

However, news of the product’s origins will probably not affect its sales at the University because there is not an alternate product sold on campus.

General Council of Legal Affairs Dolored Fredrich said, the University has a contract with Coca-Cola.

“They pay Hofstra money and other consolations and in turn the university agrees it will exclusively sell Coca-Cola beverage products,” Fredrich said. Upon the contract’s expiration in 2005, the normal practice of putting the agreement out to bid will be undertaken and new proposals will be considered.

The Chronicle conducted a small, unscientific survey of 25 University students that concluded students want options. Almost 90 percent of students surveyed said not only would they like an alternative to Dasani; if one were offered they would buy it as opposed to Dasani.

This may be a partial result of the fact that well over half of them said they felt deceived by Dasani for putting the word “pure” on the bottle.

Sophomore Jill Spiritus felt particularly misled.

“I think someone should sue Dasani for false advertising and fraud,” Spiritus said.

Still others may prefer alternative option, because of the high cost of Dasani. According to a report by the United States Department of Agriculture, Dasani is just one cent away from being the most expensive bottled water on the market-in first place is San Pellegrino at $2.01 per quart.

For students like Kristen McNally, who say water is water; preference is entirely determined by cost.

“What sucks is that it costs a buck 50 when you can get real spring water at the grocery store for 89 cents,” said McNally, who only buys bottled water for the convenience of having it in a bottle.

Compared to other bottled waters, Dasani is relatively healthy. It has hardly any sodium. It also contains magnesium sulfate, a mineral that assists the heart in functioning.

However, Dasani is not quite as healthy as some other waters because it contains no calcium. Bottled waters that contain calcium are characterized by fogginess, something that would tarnish Dasani’s sparkling clean image.

Not only is Dasani a healthy “choice;” its taste is popular with consumers. In a blind taste test of nine brands of bottled water conducted by The Los Angeles Times, Dasani ranked second best among competitors with the first place finish going to Fiji Natural Artesian Water.

Jason, a consumer affairs representative at Dasani who is not permitted to provide his last name, said the results of the taste test were no accident. Dasani prides itself on great taste and selects which minerals to include based on the results of extensive taste analysis.

“Most of the minerals that are added serve primarily to enhance flavor,” Jason said.

The Chronicle did its own little blind taste test to see how Dasani fared against Poland Spring, a cheaper spring water, that was not included in the LA Times’ test. A fairly even number of students said they liked each but Dasani squeezed by as the winner. Not too bad for tap water.

Dasani is the only water the University sells because of an exclusive contract with Coke.